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Are these the possible changes to the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card?

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On Monday I ran a piece about why I thought the Lloyds Avios Rewards credit card could not continue in its current form.

I was then handily emailed some draft marketing documentation currently being used as part of some market research.  This shows a Lloyds Avios Rewards Card that would be different to the one we have today:

the American Express card has gone, either because the Amex licence has ended (which is going to happen in the medium term) or Amex has agreed a deal with Avios to be the sole American Express issuer of Avios points in the UK

the earning rate on the Mastercard is improved, from 0.25 Avios to 0.3 Avios per £1

the annual fee remains at £24

The future of the upgrade voucher and the 0% foreign exchange fees was not clear.  I don’t believe that the latter is sustainable.

If this turned out to be the finished relaunched product, my recommendation would be entirely driven by whether the upgrade voucher and FX benefits remained.

After all, the Tesco Clubcard Mastercard offers the same 0.3 Avios per £1 – albeit impacted by rounding down – and has no annual fee and has the benefit of diversification.  If Avios devalues again, you can use your Clubcard vouchers elsewhere.

You would need to spend £800 abroad on your Lloyds card before the foreign exchange fee saving would overtake the £24 annual fee.  However, you could link the Tesco card to Supercard or Curve to remove or reduce that 3% fee anyway so the FX fee should not be the driving factor.

If this new card does turn out to be the one that is launched, it may be the upgrade voucher (or lack of it) which swings your decision.

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Category

British Airways and Avios

Comments (81)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • 1nfrequent says:
    13 Jan13 January 10:17

    Reading the snippet (and maybe I need more coffee) but is it going to be 0.3 avios for every £1 or do you only get the 1.5 avios once you spend £5?

    If they definitely get rid of the 0% foreign charges then I’d have to have a serious think about sticking with this. As a mainly solo traveller, I do get the benefit of the upgrade voucher but assuming they keep the spend level trigger as is and given the earning rate on that, I’m not sure it would really work for me. May be better to move to another hotel card or go back to the Halifax 0% foreign charge card.

    Hmm.

    1F

    • AlexT says:
      13 Jan13 January 10:27

      It will essentially be 0.3 Avios per GBP since the Lloyds card awards avios on the basis of your actual balance for the month and not on the basis of every individual transaction (like AMEX or the Tesco MC do)

      • 1nfrequent says:
        13 Jan13 January 17:36

        Ah! I see. Thank you, AlexT – appreciate it. That does put one concern to bed. 🙂

        1F

  • Keri says:
    13 Jan13 January 11:03

    I own the Lloyds Bank Avios MasterCard and Lloyds Bank Avios American Express cards – which used to be the Duo Cards. I pay no annual fee.

    Are these cards going too ? If so, will I be notified by Lloyds ? I have just received my January statement and have received Avios for my spend on that statement.

    I have just returned from abroad and my used spend there will be on my February statement. Will I be getting the Avios on that ?

    Thank you

  • BrianDT says:
    13 Jan13 January 11:09

    Oh for the perks in the US, I regret cancelling my cards when I moved back to the UK.

  • Big Al says:
    13 Jan13 January 14:29

    I have had this card for 4 years now and have not had a chance to use a single upgrade voucher. Perhaps its due to me not typically booking flights 9 months in advance but I have found availability when using the voucher laughably bad. The 0% forex has been very useful (plus the 2x avios for the first 6 months) but personally the upgrade voucher would not be a reason for me to continue getting the card.

    • pauldb says:
      13 Jan13 January 14:42

      Not sure I understand your point: availability using the voucher is no different to straight-redemption availability … unless you’re only ever interested/able to redeem in economy.

    • Matt says:
      13 Jan13 January 15:58

      With regards to this card I have had it for two years and likewise never used the upgrade voucher, any idea how to cancel it btw is it as simple as going in to a Lloyds high street bank ?

  • Genghis says:
    13 Jan13 January 17:34

    Supercard can only be linked to a visa / MC so the question is really what’s the best visa / MC. The answer is ‘it depends’. Take a look here for ideas. https://headforpoints.com/2016/09/01/best-avios-visa-mastercard/

  • Alex W says:
    13 Jan13 January 18:18

    So if I bank with Lloyds (and also cancelled the Premier card several months ago) does that mean Mrs W can’t refer me for the Lloyds Avios card? I’ve been waiting ages for the referral emails to arrive at 3 different email addresses…

    • TGLoyalty says:
      13 Jan13 January 19:44

      Does your avios account and hers accept marketing emails? is the email address used on your lloyds account?

      Even if the email doesn’t arrive make sure you apply using the email address she has used for the referral in your application and avios will award the 4500, you don’t need a special link to apply or anything.

    • Rob says:
      13 Jan13 January 21:01

      Have you given it 5 days? It should arrive to any email Lloyds does not know.

  • bill says:
    13 Jan13 January 19:23

    I have a Lloyds Avios voucher sitting in my avios account. I plan to use it on a one way flight for the two of us. Logic tells me to use it for a east bound flight to the UK. So I’ve been considering taking Norwegian or Wow outbound from the UK to USA and returning in Club using the voucher. This allows me to get a cheap one way flight on the outbound sector. Apart from the USA can anyone think of other destinations that would work. I basically need a LCC outbound and a BA flight inbound to use the voucher.

    • Nate1309 says:
      13 Jan13 January 20:24

      I am not 100% but I think BA charge a massive premium for a 1 way ticket. So the cost of the cash ticket home will be disproportionally more expensive before you then upgrade with your voucher. Never used the Lloyds upgrade before though so maybe someone else can help further.

      • bill says:
        13 Jan13 January 21:40

        BA do charge a massive premium for a 1 way ticket. Hence looking at LCC carriers for the outbound

        • Matt says:
          13 Jan13 January 21:57

          But the voucher is for an avios reward flight…you aren’t booking a BA cash fare.

      • Will says:
        16 Jan16 January 07:29

        Agreed but If you can make it work with another airline then it might be useful. E.g. we used Virgin and BA in combo.

    • Lev441 says:
      13 Jan13 January 21:29

      Is there something in the t’s and c’s about the trip starting in the U.K.. or am I mixing that up with the BAPP companion voucher…?

  • Duarte says:
    13 Jan13 January 21:33

    Anyone knows why they had rejected my application for this card? I got accepted for other credit cards such as Amex Premium BA, HSBC and Amex gold.
    Even to be added as a secondary card holder, they rejected it. Is it because I don’t bank with them? I don’t believe it’s credit score.
    Thank you.

    • bill says:
      13 Jan13 January 21:42

      I dont bank with them other than the credit card

    • the real harry1 says:
      15 Jan15 January 15:44

      provided you are generally credit-worthy (each bank has its own criteria for acceptance) – you shouldn’t worry about rejection by any 1 particular card-issuer, it happens. They might not like one or more of your answers, eg job description/ address/ earnings etc

      move on & don’t feel inhibited about applying again in a year or even sooner, maybe enhance a couple of replies next time

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